The words “nothing for the victims of the Heysel stadium disaster” were also added to a description of the Hillsborough memorial at the Reds’ stadium.

On another occasion, the description of a Bill Shankly statue on the Anfield Wikipedia page was revised to change the well-known quote “He made the people happy” to “He made a wonderful lemon drizzle cake.”

The entries were posted from IP addresses used by computers based in government departments including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Her Majesty's Treasury and the Office of the Solicitor General.

Sheila Coleman of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign described the edits as “absolutely disgusting” and said the families of the victims would demand a formal inquiry.

She told the ECHO: “We’re still in the inquests and we’ve sat listening to the most heart-breaking accounts of that day, and then you hear about things like this. It’s absolutely appalling, disgraceful.

“I’m just completely appalled, my God. It’s shocking that these comments came from within the government, no matter how spurious.

“The fact is that these changes came from within the government and that’s very saddening. It warrants an investigation and we will be seeking formal advice from our legal team.”

The Cabinet Office pledged to make “urgent inquiries” into the incident.

A spokeswoman said: “We thank the Liverpool ECHO for bringing this to our attention. This is a matter that we will treat with the utmost seriousness and are making urgent inquiries.

“No one should be in any doubt of the government’s position regarding the Hillsborough disaster and its support for the families of the 96 victims and all those affected by the tragedy.”

Margaret Aspinall of the Hillsborough Family Support Group said she was “saddened” and “frightened” by the news.

She said: “I don’t even know how to react, it’s just so sad.

“I hear something like that and it upsets me a great deal, it makes me incredibly sad. I’m glad somebody has found out about it but I’m frightened to be honest that we haven’t known until now.”

How the changes came to light

The vandalism posted by people with access to government computers on Hillsborough Wikipedia pages was traced through a series of IP addresses.

Computers on the Whitehall estate are linked by the Government Secure Intranet GSI), a service that allows different departments to share sensitive data securely.

The web of computers is tracked online by a handful of IP addresses, the details of which were released by Wallasey MP Angela Eagle following a parliamentary question in 2008, when she was a Treasury minister.

Analysis of Wikipedia’s revision history revealed the same unique ID codes were used to amend the Hillsborough and Anfield pages with a series of sick jokes.

Of the 34 government IP addresses known to the public, at least two were used over a three-year period to insert the phrases “Blame Liverpool fans” and “You’ll never walk again.”

However, an official inquiry is necessary to establish exactly which department and which people are responsible for the changes as the IP addresses cover thousands of Whitehall computers.

Send a story

Advertising Department

Trinity Mirror Merseyside, the Echo's parent company, is one of the North West’s largest multimedia providers reaching more than 900,000 adults every month.

The Liverpool Echo, Trinity Mirror Merseyside’s flagship brand, is the area’s best-read newspaper including national newspapers.

The Liverpool Echo reaches 1 in 3 people in the area with a daily readership of more than 256,000* people.The Liverpool Echo website reaches 1.5 million unique users each month who look at around 8.5 million pages**.

The Editor

Alastair Machray

Alastair Machray was appointed editor of The Liverpool Echo in 2005 and is also editor-in-chief of Trinity Mirror Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales. He is a former editor of The Daily Post (Wales and England) and editor-in-chief of the company's Welsh operations. Married dad-of-two and keen golfer Alastair is one of the longest-serving newspaper editors in the country. His titles have won numerous awards and spearheaded numerous successful campaigns.